San Diego Padres: FoB Speaks With Kurt Bevacqua (Audio)

I spoke with San Diego Padres fan-favorite and ’84 World Series standout, Kurt Bevacqua, about his career, his time in San Diego, and this season’s edition of the Friars.

Ok, right off of the bat, this is a 51-minute conversation. I only had seven or eight questions for former San Diego Padres utility-and-pinch-hitting extraordinaire, Kurt Bevacqua, and it turned into almost an hour of absolutely fantastic baseball talk.

We talked about everything from his beginnings in the Cincinnati Reds organization, earning his stripes among some of the greatest ballplayers to ever put on an MLB uniform.

He spoke about his time in the Puerto Rican Winter Leagues, as well as other Carribean Winter Leagues he played in, who else was there (more amazing names), and how it helped him stay sharp in the offseason, leading to some of the most productive years of his career.

We also talk about his time with the San Diego Padres. Everything from his relationship with manager Dick Williams, playing alongside Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, and of course, the Friars’ run to the 1984 World Series.

I would have been remiss to not ask about his 1982 dustup with Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager Tommy Lasorda, and Kurt did not disappoint.

The collection of stories, anecdotes, and baseball goodness that Kurt Bevacqua was kind enough to share with me puts him right at the top of my list of favorite interviewees.

Enjoy the interview, which I’ve included below, via SoundCloud.

His thoughts on this year’s edition of the San Diego Padres are right on point and extremely insightful. To be honest, the entire conversation was extremely candid and chock-full of fascinating baseball tidbits.

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Again, my huge thanks to Kurt Bevacqua for taking time out of his Sunday to speak with me. It was a great interview and hopefully, we’ll get another chance to speak with him during the upcoming Padres season.